1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication system using an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme (hereinafter referred to as an “OFDMA” communication system), and in particular, to an apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving channel quality information in an OFDMA communication system using multiple frequency reuse factors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active research on a 4th generation (4G) communication system, which is the next generation communication system, is being conducted to provide users with services having various qualities-of-service (QoS) at a high data rate. Currently, the 4 G communication system is being developed as a new communication system that guarantees mobility and QoS for a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) system and a wireless Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) system, both of which guarantee a higher data rate, thereby to support high-speed services.
A system that employs an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme or an OFDMA scheme to support a broadband transmission network for physical channels of the wireless MAN system is defined as a communication system based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard (hereinafter referred to as IEEE 802.16 communication system). The IEEE 802.16 communication system, which applies the OFDM/OFDMA schemes to the wireless MAN system, can support high-speed data transmission by transmitting physical channel signals using multiple subcarriers.
A communication system having a cellular structure (hereinafter referred to as a “cellular communication system”) may suffer inter-cell interference (ICI) because a plurality of cells constituting the cellular communication system can commonly use the limited resources, i.e., the limited frequency resources, code resources, time slot resources, etc. The IEEE 802.16 communication system is a typical cellular communication system.
In the IEEE 802.16 communication system, if multiple cells share the frequency resources, system performance deteriorates due to the ICI. In some cases, however, the frequency resources are reused in order to increase the total capacity of the IEEE 802.16 communication system. A ratio of the reused frequency resources is referred to as a “frequency reuse factor,” and a frequency reuse factor K is defined as an operation of repeatedly using the same frequency resource, or frequency band, for every K cells/sectors. As a result, the frequency reuse factor is determined according to the number of cells/sectors that do not use the same frequency resource.
A concept of the frequency reuse factor will now be described with reference to the diagram of FIG. 1, which illustrates a frequency reuse concept in a cellular communication system. Referring to FIG. 1, a frequency F1 used in a cell with radius R is reused in another cell with radius R.
FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a resource allocation method based on multiple frequency reuse factors in a conventional IEEE 802.16 communication system. Referring to FIG. 2, a cell center 201 located in the vicinity of a base station (BS) allocates a resource with K=1 to a subscriber station (SS) because it has a higher carrier-to-interference and noise ratio (CINR). On the contrary, a cell boundary 203 located farther from the BS allocates a resource with K>1 to the SS because it has a lower CINR. In this manner, the BS (or upper node) uses a different frequency reuse factor according to a channel state in the process of allocating a resource to the SS, thereby increasing resource efficiency.
FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating a relationship between a distance from a BS and a CINR separately for K=1 and K>1 in an IEEE 802.16 communication system. Referring to FIG. 3, for K>1, frequency efficiency is higher at the cell boundary.
Therefore, in the IEEE 802.16 communication system, a BS uses the frame in which a frequency reuse factor ‘1’ and a frequency reuse factor ‘K’ coexist, in order to provide smooth service or safely transmit important information such as control information to an SS located in the cell boundary.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a format of an OFDMA-based frame in an IEEE 802.16 communication system. Referring to FIG. 4, an OFDMA frame includes subchannel allocation regions having various subchannel allocation schemes. That is, the OFDMA frame includes a Partial Usage of Subchannels (PUSC) allocation region, a Full Usage of Subchannels (FUSC) allocation region, an Optional FUSC allocation region, and a Band Adaptive Modulation & Coding (Band AMC) allocation region.
The allocation region is a variable region, a length of which is changeable by a BS. For the change in the allocation region, the BS broadcasts a downlink MAP (DL-MAP) to SSs to inform the SSs of the change in the allocation region. The BS always uses a frequency reuse factor ‘1’ for the FUSC and Optional FUSC allocation regions, and uses a frequency reuse factor ‘1’ or ‘N’ for PUSC and Band AMC allocation regions.
The IEEE 802.16 communication system uses various schemes, in particular an Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) scheme, in order to support high-speed data transmission. The AMC scheme refers to a data transmission scheme that determines a different modulation scheme and coding scheme according to a channel state between a cell, or BS, and an SS, thereby improving the total efficiency of the cell. The AMC scheme has a plurality of modulation schemes and a plurality of coding schemes, and modulates/codes channel signals with a combination of the modulation schemes and the coding schemes.
Commonly, each of the combinations of the modulation schemes and the coding schemes is referred to as a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), and a plurality of MCSs with a level #1 to a level #N can be defined according to the number of the MCSs. That is, the AMC scheme adaptively determines a level of the MCS according to a channel state between the BS and the SS, thereby improving the total system efficiency. Therefore, a scheduler of the BS must be aware of Channel Quality Information (CQI) for each of SSs. To this end, the SS measures its channel state and reports an associated CQI to the BS, and the BS determines an MCS level for the corresponding SS taking the reported CQI into account. However, if the CQI reported from the SS is incorrect, the BS may allocate an inappropriate MCS level, causing a loss of radio resources and a reduction in system performance.
Generally, there are two possible methods for feeding back a CQI from an SS to a BS in the IEEE 802.16 communication system. One method feeds back the CQI using messages defined in a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, for example, Report-Request (REP-REQ) and Report-Response (REP-RSP) messages, and another method feeds back the CQI using a Channel Quality Indicator Channel (CQICH) defined in a physical layer. The names of the messages and/or channels are subject to change.
In a method of transmitting/receiving a CQI in the MAC layer, the BS transmits a REP-REQ message for requesting a CQI report to an SS, and the SS transmits a REP-RSP message to the BS to report a measured CQI. Herein, the REP-RSP message may be used as an unsolicited message.
In a method of transmitting/receiving a CQI in the physical layer, the BS transmits a CQICH allocation Information Element (IE) message to each of SSs to allocate a dedicated CQI channel, and the SS reports a CQI using the allocated dedicated CQI channel. Herein, the CQI can be a CINR.
The SS can report a CQI by measuring channel quality for either a particular subchannel or a reference signal in a frame.
In the former case where the SS measures channel quality for a particular subchannel, the SS can report a correct CQI, in which even the interference (or loading) from neighboring cells or sectors is reflected. However, for the channel quality measurement, the SS must process a data signal for the particular subchannel, causing an increase in calculation required by the SS to acquire the data signal.
On the contrary, in the latter case where the SS measures channel quality using its known reference signal, the SS can reduce calculation required for the channel quality measurement. In this case, however, the SS cannot report a CQI, in which even the interference (or loading) from neighboring cells or sectors is reflected. Therefore, the SS reports an equivalent CQI measured for the maximum possible interference (loading). The term “equivalent CQI” refers to a CQI measured in such a manner that an SS measures strength of a boosted reference signal, and subtracts the boosted value from the strength of the reference signal when reporting a CQI. The reference signal can be a preamble or pilot signal.